HIMSS20 Cancelled Because of Fear of COVID-19

The 2020 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Conference (HIMSS 20) was cancelled because of the persistent spread of COVID-19. Over 40,000 people and 1,300 exhibitors were supposed to go to the conference that was slated to take place from March 9 to March 13 in Orlando, Florida.

Subsequent to the new information given by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the organizers decided to cancel the HIMSS conference. This is the first time the event was canceled in its 58 years of existence.

A number of healthcare experts from all over the world who were going to the HIMSS conference might have already been exposed to the COVID-19 virus. HIMSS has been evaluating the novel coronavirus outbreak for many weeks. However, as the HIMSS conference drew closer, the risks became significantly greater. HIMSS mentioned last week that it was carefully keeping track of the outbreak by the hour and a number of key exhibitors withdrew from the conference, such as Humana, Cisco, and Amazon.

New data from the CDC and the WHO underlined the risks associated with pushing through with the event. HIMSS stated that it has an obligation to keep its employees, members and local residents safe. Furthermore, there could be adverse effects from displacing healthcare experts at a crucial time such as this when they would possibly need to work to assist in the prohibition of the spread of the COVID-19 virus and make sure to give the required care of infected patients.

An external advisory board of healthcare experts supported the decision to cancel the conference considering that bringing thousands of people together in Orlando, Florida next week could bring about an undesirable risk.